SUMo to the Rescue

I found SUMo (Software Update Monitor) from KC Softwares that allows me to analyse my existing installed software and their versions, find and download new versions (installers or setup files) for my software.

Its awesome that in one click and I can see what software needs updating. In the process I was able to see what applications I don’t use (they were old versions) and I uninstalled them

SUMo Settings

I will update my software and to ensure my software does not get out of date I enabled “Load at startup” and “Check for new software at startup” (SUMo).

I did not enable “Scan for new software at startup” but seeing SUMo Start and update will remind me to check for updates if I have time.

I also enabled “Show file path” in the SUMo Application list so I can see where the programs are. I found multiple instances of Python installed all over my PC.

Getting Application Updates

I right clicked on each of my applications (that needed updating) and clicked “Get Update from…” then “.. from developer’s Site (Direct)“.

If you don’t want to right click you can click the “Get Update” button in the tool bar to get selected applications update.

This will open a web browser page to the software vendors website.

SUMo also has a page available with stats on the application’s known statistics (nice table of versions, beta or stable status and numbers of users).

Updating Software

I was able to right click “Get Update from…” – “.. from developer’s Site (Direct)” for each application in the list that needed an update. I was directed to the software vendors page for each software where I could download the app updates.

Within minutes I had dozens of vendor pages open with links to new versions of my outdated software.

Within a short period I had amasses gigabytes of new application installs.

I installed each of the new updates and then moved the new installs to my B:\Installs folder (in case I have to manually reinstall Windows in the future).

Checking Application Update Status

After I updated my out of date applications I then right clicked on the apps in SUMo and clicked Check to re check the status of the applications

SUMo Right Click Actions

Fyi: SUMo has a number of actions in the right click menu (on an installed Application).

Delete: Removes item from list. Will appear again on next scan or manually addition

My Visual Studio (development) software was reporting an older version of Python (2.7). I updated Visual Studio to the latest version but Python 2.7 remained. I deleted Visual Studio from the list and was prompted (this is not deleting the application from the hard disk just from the generated list.

After a few hours updating apps

I whittled down the list of my applications that needed updating

I could sort applications in the list by OK status or apps that needed Minor or Major updates applied.

All Apps Updated

I can now say that all of my Applications are all up to date.

Export

I used the export feature in SUMo to build an excel file listing all my applications.

Fyi: SUMo exported this list as a “;” separated file, I opened the file in Sublime Text Editor and replaced “;” with TAB and then pasted this list back into Excel.

This is a lengthy (but simple) guide on how I get files ready for a clean install of Windows, backup and restore Windows (C Drive and associated hidden Windows partitions) using Acronis True Image 2020).

Backup and Restore Windows Prerequisites

You will need to buy a licence of Acronis True Image 2020 to..

Backup Windows

Restore Windows

You will need a second hard disk larger than your Windows drive (to backup to).

With all the horror stories of Windows updates killing machine’s it’s time to return to using Acronis True Image (not a paid endorsement) to start backing up the drive my Windows is on (all partitions)

I remember using Acronis True Image 8 in 2004 and loved it. Time to buy the new version. I loaded https://acronis.com/ (Australia Region) and noticed a cloud backup in the marketing information. I hope they still do local backups line in 2004.

The downloads finished and I started the AcronisTrueImage2020.exe setup file

I clicked Install

After the setup completed I was directed to a Quick Start Guide

Starting Acronis True Image 2020

When I loaded Acronis True Image 2020 for the fits time I had to agree to the Licence Agreement

A pasted in my just purchased Licence key

I already had an account (created minutes earlier in a web browser) so I clicked Sign In.

Sign In Screen

I was presented with a help wizard on startup.

Now I am ready to create my first backup.

Creating a Backup

Acronis True Image 2020 wanted me to back up all of my PC but it is 8TB, I don’t have an 8TB drive handy to back up to. For the life of Me I could not see how much 8TB would cost per month to backup.

I clicked on my computer name (“ZENIGMA”) and selected “Disks and partitions“

I un-ticked all system drives and partitions that were not my C Drive disk. I have installed Windows 10 onto a Corsair MP600 M.2 PCIE 1TB SSD and I want to back it up. The M.2 SSD connects to my main board.

I selected this drive to backup.

Oh dang, I don’t have enough space free on any drive to backup the C Drive to., Time to move some files.

Backup Destination

I have 8 partitions (drive letters) on 5 SATA hard rives and 2 M.2 SSD’s. I think I can move some data and free some space for this backup.

Cons

The DVD an USB Rescue Media is little unresponsive at times during the restore (but it works)

The DVD and USB Rescue Media GUI can use a bit of design love (I am sure it was better 10 years ago (basic and clean))

When I restored I had no Idea what C:\ Drive was listed as H:\ (loads of confusion on the internet)

Disclaimer

I am not paid by Acronis to say this, this is just my guide for my friends. I paid with my own cash. I take no responsibility if this does not work for you. Good luck though.

Troubleshooting

DVD Rescue Media

The DVD/USB Rescue Media is a bit laggy. At one point in the recovery I has a white screen for over a minute. I waited and the screen came good

Also the Menu in the DVD/USB toolbar does seem a bit squashed.

Bonus: Windows System Restore

There may be a time when you have created a full Operating system backup but the restore does not work (e.g hardware has failed (and been changed)). Acronis True Image 2020 will allow you to restore files from a backup image (and not the whole partition or disk).

Make sure System Protection is enabled for your C Drive

Create a System Restore Image

If you have Windows 10 it is a good idea to create a System Restore point ever few months just in-case Windows goes bad.

Click Your Start Button then type “Create a restore point“

Click your C Drive and click “Create“

The restore point will be created

Restoring a restore point

At any time you feel that Windows is sick (and still working) you can restore and old system restore.

Click the the desired restore point then click Next

You will be able to restore the old system snapshot.

Bonus: Clean Windows 10 Install

TBA: Blog post coming soon

Bonus: How I prepare all files needed for a clean install

Before you do a clean install of Windows 10 you may need to document what software you have installed so you have a change to reinstall them after you reinstall Windows.

This is possibly the most boring job but the one with the most reward. The hardest party is knowing what software you have an need.

Finding Installed Software with SUMo

I use a free program called SUMo from KC Software (not a plug) to list all installed programs and to see what software is out of date.

SUMo informed me that I have 256 software products installed.

7 were really out of date

62 products had recent updates

I took this list and downloaded and installed new copies of the apps I had installed (as newer version’s of apps can be more secure) and I also saved the installer files to a folder away from C Drive (e.g B:\Installs).

I am a bit OSD and I have created 10 folders under the B:\Installs folder that contain installs from Essential Drivers to non essential apps that I can use in the event of a clean install of Windows

I recently setup a Raspberry PI as a DNS Sinkhole to block ads and Trackers on my home network and I love it. I paid about $120 for a Raspberry Pi LCD Screen and Case from Pakronics to go with a Raspberry Pi 3B+ I had laying around to Setup as a PiHole. This post will show how I made my Screen buttons work.

This post is not a sponsored advertisement, I like to log what I have done for documentation

Long story short, the Pi Hole is great and the LCD Screen and Case is working a treat and I needed to get the buttons on the LCD Panel and case working.

I love the stats that PiHole provides.

In only have Python 2.7 (and for a device on a private home network) and this is ok, given Python 2.7 is no longer supported.

Result

Shutting down from a button press (before a storm or a the kids bedtime is priceless). I did add some of my wife’s nail polish to add a different colour to each button.

I intend to add a flat heat pipe and external heatsink to the PiHole so there will be heaps of room for printed labels for each button. The Pi CPU doe’s not get super hot but it does get above 55c from time to time.

I love my PiHole

Troubleshooting

If you having troubles making the service run the following to force the service creation (but enter your service name)

What is PiHole?

Snip from WikiPedia: “Pi-hole is a Linux network-level advertisement and Internet tracker blocking application which acts as a DNS sinkhole (and optionally a DHCP server), intended for use on a private network. It is designed for use on embedded devices with network capability, such as the Raspberry Pi, but it can be used on other machines running Linux and cloud implementations. Pi-hole has the ability to block traditional website advertisements as well as advertisements in unconventional places, such as smart TVs and mobile operating system advertisements.”

What is a Raspberry PI?

A Raspberry PI is an inexpensive (5V Volt, 2 Amp) ARM based computer that can run off the power from a USB cable.

The first Mac address is my Ethernet address on The Raspberry PI and the second is WiFi.

I logged into my router (Telstra DJA0230) and clicked Advanced then Local Network. I could see my DHCP range was from 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.254, I shortened this to 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.200 (so I can set a static IP Address for the Raspberry PI) then I set a Static IP address for the Raspberry pi to 192.168.0.201.

I rebooted the Raspberry PI and checked the IP address

I logged into my Router (at https://192.168.0.1)

When my Samsung SD card died I had to re-setup a new SD card but the IP address came across as the mac address stayed the same (as it was the same hardware), I did however change the name of the Static IP hostname in my home router to match the new name “raspberrypihole” (not “pihole”)

I set a static IP for this Ethernet address and defined 192.168.0.201 as the IP address.

Setting Up PiHole on the RaspBerry PI

I SSH’ed to my Raspberry Pi (with the new IP address) and ran this command

Now its time to install Pi Hole onto My Raspberry Pi

curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash

I received a Root user error

I read this guide on temporarily allowing root logins then rebooted my Pi and connected again as root. Running as root is not a good idea long term buy it works and my location is secure.

“[email protected] (FAH or [email protected]) is a distributed computing project for disease research that simulates protein folding, computational drug design, and other types of molecular dynamics. As of today, the project is using the idle resources of personal computers owned by volunteers from all over the world. Thousands of people contribute to the success of this project.”

Warning running [email protected] on your completer all the time may cause the computer to over-heat, die (or have a shorter life). If you do not want this risk then don’t install [email protected] Use at your own risk.

Web Control

By opening the [email protected] System Tray icon then clicking Web Control I can see a good overview of the projects being simulated and the status.

You can dedicated your system to run projects from a specific project (e.g Alzheimer’s or Cancer etc) but to contribute directly to Corona Virus at this time, leave the project as “Any” COVID-19 work is coming

Warning

Warning running [email protected] on your completer all the time may cause the computer to over-heat, die (or have a shorter life). If you do not want this risk then don’t install [email protected] Use at your own risk.

CPU is Folding at three-quarter speed. GPU Folding is on. This is the default setting, and recommended for most users.

Full

CPU is Folding at full speed. GPU Folding is on. This is the most productive setting. Will cause fans to run faster and may produce more heat.

While I’m working

Folding is enabled to run at all times, based on the slider position.

Only when idle

Folding starts only when the system has not been used for several minutes.

If temperatures are high you can lower the priority of the work completed.

I doubt my system will overheat outside of Summer.

Photo of my processor water cooler (radiator)

Photo of my video card water cooler (radiator)

Can I just work on COVID-19 simulations/projects (not Alzheimers, Cancer, Huntingtons or Cancer)?

No, not at this time as the interface does not allow this yet (it’s coming) but you can add a few expert settings to grab the beat projects if they are available. Most of the COVID projecds are in BETA.

Right click on the [email protected] SysTray Icon and click Advanced Control then click Configure button then click the Expert Tab, under Extra client options click Add and add these values.

>These projects are part of [email protected]’s efforts to assist researchers around the world taking up the global fight against COVID-19. At the time of release, this is the latest news update: https://foldingathome.org/2020/03/10/covid19-update/

>These projects are CPU projects to simulate the main protease of the COVID-19, a possible drug target. These supplement high-priority GPU projects of the main protease as well as the COVID-19 receptor binding domains. We hope to have preliminary drug screening simulations on CPUs released in the next week.

>Please stay tuned to https://foldingathome.org/news/ for more current updates.

I was going to setup a local (in my house) PiHole (with a Raspberry PI) that blocks internet trackers (DNS Sinkhole) and Advertisements (yes, like the ones on my website) because I don’t want my kids consuming a bucket loads of Advertisements online when they watch YouTube.

I am against online trackers and big data building a profiles on kids that are 6 and 10 years old. I have stopped using Facebook, Twitter and stopped using Google Analytics on this website.

I demo’ed to my son about the big data sucking up his data by looking at an IT retailer here in Australia for a random computer product then a few seconds later we looked as news sites (with Advertisements) in the UK and the US and to his surprise Advertisements for the randomly selected product in Australia was on his screen (sent from the other side of the world).

I am not against Content Creators making money from Advertisement revenue I am against the privacy issue. If you love consuming a Content Creators stuff then support them on their Merch store(s).

I don’t want my kids to accidentally fall victim to Malware, Cryptojacking, Phishing or spammy or known bad websites. I have a leading Antivirus products on their Computers but it is best not to put all of your eggs in one basket.

Enter https://nextdns.io (Free)

fyi: NextDNS.io is in BETA development and if you want rock a rock solid experience you may want to wait until until the beta period is over (Maybe March 2020. The only issue I have had is the NextDNS.io systray app sometimes does not open, I can work around this by starting and stopping the NextDNS.io service (“NextDNS DNS53 to DoH proxy“) in the Windows services app.

You can probably tell from the title of this post that NextDNS is a DNS based service that blocks malicious websites, trackers, ads, typo squatting domains, new or parked domains, TLD’s, mature YouTube content and comments and more. In my research for PiHole I found that nextdns.io was mentioned (How-to: Pi-Hole Plus DNSCrypt Setup on Raspberry Pi 4).

Threat Intelligence FeedsBlock domains known to distribute malware or launch phishing attacks and botnet command-and-control servers using a blend of the most reputable threat intelligence feeds—all updated in real-time.

Google Safe BrowsingBlock malware and phishing domains using Google Safe Browsing—a technology that examines billions of URLs per day looking for unsafe websites. Unlike the version embedded in some browsers, this does not associate your public IP address to threats and does not allow bypassing the block.

Cryptojacking ProtectionPrevent the unauthorized use of your devices to mine cryptocurrency.

DNS Rebinding ProtectionPrevent attackers from taking control of your local devices through the Internet by automatically blocking DNS responses containing private IP addresses.

IDN Homograph Attacks ProtectionBlock domains that impersonate other domains by abusing the large character set made available with the arrival of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)—e.g. replacing the Latin letter “e” with the Cyrillic letter “е”.

Domain Generation Algorithms (DGAs) ProtectionBlock domains generated by Domain Generation Algorithms (DGAs) seen in various families of malware that can be used as rendezvous points with their command and control servers.

Block Newly Registered Domains (NRDs)Block domains registered less than 30 days ago. Those domains are known to be favored by threat actors to launch malicious campaigns.

Block Parked DomainsParked domains are single-page websites often laden with ads and devoid of any value. Parked domain monetization can sometimes get mixed up with suspicious practices and malicious content.

Block Child _______ Abuse Material (CSAM)Block domains hosting child ______ abuse material with the help of Project Arachnid, operated by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. No information is transmitted back to Project Arachnid when a domain is blocked.

EasyListEasyList is the primary filter list that removes most adverts from international webpages, including unwanted frames, images and objects. It is the most popular list used by many ad blockers and forms the basis of over a dozen combination and supplementary filter lists.easylist.to • 17,646 entries • Updated 17 minutes ago

AdGuard Tracking Protection filterThe most comprehensive list of various online counters and web analytics tools. If you do not want your actions on the Internet be tracked, use this filter.kb.adguard.com/general/adguard-ad-filters#tracking-protection-filter • 5,014 entries • Updated 18 hours ago

AdGuard Base filterFilter that enables removing of the ads from websites with English content.kb.adguard.com/general/adguard-ad-filters#base-filter • 19,667 entries • Updated an hour ago

someonewhocares.org (Dan Pollock)Protects you from many types of spyware, reduces bandwidth use, blocks certain pop-up traps, prevents user tracking by way of “web bugs” embedded in spam, provides partial protection to IE from certain web-based exploits and blocks most advertising you would otherwise be subjected to on the internet.someonewhocares.org/hosts • 14,404 entries • Updated 2 days ago

AdGuard Social Media filterIf you do not like numerous «Like» and «Tweet» buttons on all the popular websites on the Internet, subscribe to this filter, and you will not see them anymore.kb.adguard.com/general/adguard-ad-filters#social-media-filter • 55 entries • Updated 3 hours ago

Shalla’s Blacklists (tracker)Site keeping an eye on where you surf and what you do in a passive. Covers web bugs, counters and other tracking mechanism in web pages that do not interfere with the local computer yet collecting information about the surfing person for later analyis. Sites actively spying out the surfer by installing software or calling home sites are not covered with tracker but with -> spyware.www.shallalist.de • 1,246 entries • Updated 2 days ago

Shalla’s Blacklists (adv)All about advertising: This includes sites offering banners and banner creation as well as sites delivering banners to be shown in webpages. Advertising companies are listed, too.www.shallalist.de • 14,275 entries • Updated 2 days ago

EasyList GermanyEasyList Germany is a filter list written by the EasyList authors MonztA, Famlam and Khrin that specifically removes adverts on German language websites.easylist.to/pages/other-supplementary-filter-lists-and-easylist-variants.html • 595 entries • Updated a day ago

Lightswitch05 – Tracking AggressiveA very aggressive block list for tracking, geo-targeting, & ads. This list will likely break functionality, so do not use it unless you are willing to maintain your own whitelist.www.github.developerdan.com/hosts • 4,919 entries • Updated 2 days ago

Blocking bad sites , YouTube comments etc all work on iOS as they do on Windows and Android.

Analyics (the nest feature)

The best part of NextDNS.io is the superb analytics available. Because they are a DNS server they can track incoming request(s) from all of my connected computes.

In 2 days my home network made 22,247 queries to the internet, 5684 requests were blocked, I could see the top accessed websites (antivirus and kids games) and a map of where the requests were going.

If the Analytics was not enough I could see all the requests logs.

I filtered all blocked web traffic.

The internet is a dumpster fire with all this tracking.

Pricing

Snip from here. “Pricing is completely free during the beta, then free up until about 300,000 DNS queries/month — $1.99/month for unlimited queries. If you decide to stay on the free plan, NextDNS will simply behave like a classic public resolver after reaching the 300,000 queries limit.”

Conclusion

Don’t surf the web without protection. Every parent should install this on their kids machines.

I can’t wait for this product to leave beta, I wan’t this service in my house.

SD Card (Required)

The Raspberry Pi does not have a Hard Drive (Magnetic, SSD or NVME) and you will need a Micro SD card. An operating system will need to be written to the SD card and inserted into the MicroSD slot on the Raspberry Pi.

Here is a short post to help document communicating a Adafruit BME680 (Adafruit BME680 – Temperature, Humidity, Pressure and Gas Sensor) on a Wemos D1 Mini (ESP8266).

Yes this is normally a Security/Server blog but I needed a break (and an excuse to teach my 10 year old son how to code). I have promised my son I will make an IoT Easter Hat for school this year. Why not have an 80Mhz ESP8266 and a few sensors in his hat.

A few years back before I got into Server’s and Security I was developing a weather related mobile app IoT device and . n have always had a hardware and coding bug.

I have played with Arduino’s in the past but I wanted a micro controller with WiFi, enter the ESP8266

Acme.sh

This is where a handy Open Source script called (acme.sh) on Github comes in, it will renew my Let’s Encrypt Certificate from the command line and verify my server with Let’s Encrypt via DNS records. To do this it will use the Cloudflare API and create a DNS records to verify my server with Let’s Encrypt. Nice.

Troubleshooting

I recently created a number of cron jobs to backup databases, backup files offsite, virus scan and perform a number of tasks (at various times) I put a call out on Twitter as to the best program to monitor these jobs.

Disclaimer

Terms And Conditions Of UseAll content provided on this "www.fearby.com" blog is for informational purposes only. Views are his own and not his employers. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. Never make changes to a live site without backing it up first.

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